Five More Minutes
by Dustbunny3
Summary: [MtMtE][One-shot][CDRW] Conjunx cuddling and xeno kisses. That's it, that's the fic.


A/N: I've seen someone(s?) suggest Chromedome with a bug mouth and I think it's a super cool idea. But I favor a more crab-like mouth for him, as I'm charmed by how neatly the parts would fold up under his faceplate. This is basically just an excuse for a) that and b) cuddle fluff. I did my best with the descriptions but if you need a visual reference, my primary inspiration was this video (www . youtube watch ? v = ZJyeFSq3STM) and I also consulted these (aciar . gov . au / files / node / 10562 / HP024 . pdf) documents (wgbis . ces . iisc . ernet . in / biodiversity / pubs / ETR / ETR113 / crabs . html). If I messed up any of the terminology, by all means, please do let me know! All that said and done, I enjoyed writing this and I hope someone out there enjoys reading it :D

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"Five more minutes," Chromedome rumbled when Rewind his shifted his weight on his chassis, tightening one arm around him while the other hand stroked along the lines of his body.

"Just five?" Rewind asked, light with amusement. Not that he had planned on getting up anyway, but they'd been taking it in turns to say that since coming out of recharge an hour previous. Rewind again went over his mental to-do list, almost as if a reset button had been pressed, and still found nothing more important to do than cuddle with his conjunx.

He wriggled and tucked himself further under Chromedome's arm, as had been his intention in the first place, giving his fingers more room to run across Chromedome's chest over his spark chamber. The plating there rippled and flared under his touch; he walked his fingertips along the seams and skipped across the gaps, balancing on the edge of chaste. He chirred, pleased by the rumbling purr of Chromedome's engine buzzing through his plating. It was almost but not quite enough to hide the scritching, clicking sound of a Chromedome-style smile hidden away beneath his ever-present faceplate.

Humming, optics still offline, Rewind traced a familiar path up Chromedome's chest. Those gaps where the plating flared called out to him, invitations writ large by open air over sensitive components, and he was tempted to accept– if only his fingers didn't have somewhere to be. He took enough time out of his journey to stroke along the edges, to caress a wire or two, leaving a trail of promises in his wake.

Still, he remained steady on his way, following the sounds of that too-rare smile. He double-checked his camera settings as he tapped twice at Chromedome's faceplate. Chromedome hesitated, as was his wont, and Rewind trilled a soothing note. He stroked the familiar seams and was gratified after a moment to feel them part to bare Chromedome's mouthparts to the world.

Or, rather, just to Rewind.

Murmuring his appreciation, Rewind wiggled his fingertips in the scant space of the empty air, relishing it, before he stroked along the seams of Chromedome's outermost maxillipeds; at rest, they were almost a second faceplate. The smile he'd come after had been hidden away by shyness, but Rewind searched it out by touch and drew it back to the open among a mass of shivers. He purred at the feeling of the slender flagella fluttering.

Even better was when all three sets of maxillipeds folded open, creaking from underuse as they stretched up around Rewind's fingers. The thought of waiting until he reviewed his footage later to see this was suddenly the most unpleasant he could think of; he brought his optics online and focused just in time to watch the maxillipeds come to the apex of their stretch. The flagella were still shivering, looking almost delicate as they stretched away from the flat, wide expanse of the rest of the structure. The more segmented inner sets wiggled like the legs of some strange insect. Rewind hummed, awed by the sight as ever, as he watched them all fold back down, one set after the other, all stroking over his knuckles as they did.

Chromedome trailed a hand up and rested it lightly at the crook of Rewind's elbow. At the same time, the external maxillipeds settled down over Rewind's fingers like another embrace. It wasn't nearly enough to hold him down but more than enough to hold him in place.

He shivered at the sensations, still so rare, but there was hardly any time to relish them before he was giggling, curling tighter into Chromedome's side but careful that his hand away kept steady. The two inner sets of maxillipeds tickled his fingers with kisses. The fine rows of spines that lined them were mostly flattened down but still rippled, catching in his seams and tugging him deeper. His fingertips brushed the deeply set maxillae, more mesh than solid metal plating, and he outright snorted into Chromedome's shoulder.

"Domey, hey," he said, unable to sound even playfully stern. He flashed his visor up at Chromedome and triple-checked his camera at the look of him– mischief and affection lighting up a visor too often dull and dour; mouthparts almost never exposed even to him, even in private, clamped shivering around his fingers.

"Yes, what?" Chromedome asked. The words took on an almost muffled quality with Rewind's fingers there to distort their vibrations through the complex mouthparts. Or maybe it had more to do with the static that Chromedome was trying to hide.

Rewind shimmied out from under Chromedome's arm and up his body, hand still a willing prisoner, to nuzzle at his neck and then up to his cheek in his own version of a kiss. He said, "You know what," right where he knew the vibrations would hit a rarely-touched seam just right.

Sure enough, Chromedome gasped, every segment of his mouth twitching. Rewind wiggled his fingers, pressed lightly. The palps of Chromedome's deep-hidden mandibles jumped under his touch. The spines there didn't flatten out, like the others could, instead drawing shallow scratches into his plating. Chromedome gasped again, his grip on Rewind's elbow and side tightening even as his mandibles parted, less an invitation than a suggestion.

It was a suggestion Rewind considered carefully and then set aside for further consideration at a later time. He knew exactly how he could turn up the heat in Chromedome's field and he knew his own would meet it before long. But he was comfortable, too, with the warmth between and around them, and he could read Chromedome well enough to be sure he wouldn't be disappointed.

Trilling, Rewind backtracked his fingers from the depths of Chromedome's mouth, caressing this and that segment as he went, sometimes doubling back when he didn't recognize this or that bend well enough. Chromedome kissed his fingers goodbye at every turn, sometimes catching them in place to flutter the rows of spines against them. His engine gave a short rev in response to every hiccup of laughter it earned him.

Once they'd parted, Chromedome's maxillipeds flattened down like a door closing– but he didn't close his faceplate, not yet. Rewind showed his appreciation by caressing the maxillipeds, a thin coat of oral lubricant making the contact slick, and by continuing to nuzzle across the expanse. Chromedome's flagella fluttering as he nuzzled back, a smile and a kiss all in one.

He wrapped both arms around Rewind, shifting him a bit, and pressed those smiling kisses down his neck to his shoulder and up again, slow and steady. He rested his forehead up against Rewind's and then sighed, turning to glance at their new wall clock, a gift foisted upon them by Whirl, and then back.

Right, it was Rewind's turn. Humming, he dutifully thought over his to-do list– and Chromedome's as far as he knew it, for good measure– before snuggling down, nuzzling again against those still-exposed maxillipeds and declaring, "Five more minutes."


End file.
